Foreclosure filings in California dropped to levels not seen since since late 2008 when governmental intervention temporary slowed the foreclosure filing process. Notice of Default filings dropped 12.8 percent month-over-month and Notice of Trustee Sale filings fell 12.5 percent from the prior month. The foreclosure filing percentage decreases are more moderate when adjusted on an average daily basis due to the fewer filing and trustee sale days in February with a 3.1 percent drop for Notice of Default filings and a 2.8 percent decline for Notice of Trustee Sale filings. On a year-over-year basis foreclosure filings were down as well, with Notice of Default filings down 29.6 percent and Notice of Trustee Sale filings falling 17.0 percent from February 2010. Acivity on the courthouse steps slowed with fewer sales leading to a 24.5 percent decrease in sales Back to Bank and a 20.3 percent drop in properties purchased by Third Parties, typically investors. For the first time, Third Party investors saw a drop in the average Time to Resell a property, down 3.1 percent to 156 days.

Economists, investors and homeowners are all eagerly anticipating the return of a healthy real estate market. Even potential homebuyers want to know when the market will shift so that they can make their move into homeownership at the right time.

Emile Haddad, a former Lennar Corp. executive, sold 12,000 acres in California for a $277 million profit at the housing market's peak four years ago. He and his partners then reacquired it at half the price in 2009. Now, Haddad says, it's time to build.

Foreclosure sales bounced back to levels not seen since robo-signing moratoriums went into effect last fall.

Reversing a four month declining trend, Notice of Default filings rose 6.9 percent month-over-month in California, while Notice of Trustee Sale filings dropped 13.8 percent from the prior month. Foreclosure filings year-over-year show only mild change, with Notice of Default filings down 3.3 percent and Notice of Trustee Sale filings slipping just 1.4 percent from January 2010. Foreclosure sales skyrocketed from December, with 51.5 percent more sales Back to Bank and 52.8 percent more properties purchased by Third Parties, typically investors. Cancellations were up as well, rising 12.4 percent this month as compared to last which was the first time in six months that cancelations increased month-over-month.

In his blog this week, mortgage broker Dennis C. Smith of Stratis Financial in Huntington Beach explains where you likely stand if you've bought a foreclosed property in California, or if you are thinking of buying one: